Love and Other Alibis
by DakotaAndJamie4Ever
Summary: After five years, a brokenhearted Elliott comes home and meets his bestfriend, Ana only to find out a secret. She has a child with his brother, Christian. When Elliott tells Christian, things will get tangled up. What happens when Christian comes back? What happens when Elliott starts falling for Ana? What happens the girl who broke Elliott's heart will win him back? AU. HEA.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

ELLIOTT

The coffee gets colder as I stir it in clockwise motion. I've been sitting for an hour here in the café but I can't seem to just take one sip.

Is it possible to request for gravity to leave me alone? I'm afraid of constantly staying on the ground.

Forrest Creek is still the same old town we've left five years ago. The same old pawnshop stands at the cul-de-sac, storing the remnants which tell secret stories. There is still the playground where children enjoy the problem-free stages of life. There's still the school I ruled when I was an immature teen. There's still this old coffee shop I go to every single time I feel so down.

I belong to a well-off family. All my life I have been provided well. My father's a hotshot lawyer while my mother's a well-respected doctor. I have a brother and a sister and both are so much better than I am. My sister, Mia is a year younger than me. At 22, she excels so damn well in law school. My older brother, Christian is a very successful doctor.

He is 33 but he still hasn't settled down. I don't know what's up with him. I seriously don't get how he thinks wearing lab coats and stethoscopes is fun.

We moved out of this town and moved to Los Angeles a week after my high school graduation. It was painful to say goodbye especially to my estranged best friend, Anastasia Steele. I wonder how she's doing now. I wonder if she really achieved her dream of owning a flower shop. I wonder how I would respond if she asks me the same thing, if she asks, "Elliott, did you try to be a musician?"

Oh Ana, me? I dropped off college to pursue a career in music but it didn't work out.

My first album was such a flop. It was EDM and I thought the beats were fun and it could make people dance, but I was wrong. Again, it didn't work out.

I was about to get married to the woman of my dreams—a woman named Katherine Kavanaugh, but as predictable as it seems, the next four words haunt me: it didn't work out.

Now, I think of her. I think of Kate and her golden blonde hair. I think of the first time I saw her crossing in the street. I think of the times she would brush my fingers through my hair every time we finish sex. I think about the way she holds my hands when they tremble because of writer's block.

Before I know it, I'm the black hole of reminiscing. Screw this! There's no way I'm getting over her.

Suddenly, a light flickers in me and I have the urge to write. I grab a pen from my pocket and used the tissue paper to scribble on. I take a sip of cold coffee and thought of Kate.

 _I don't know where we went wrong_

 _Was it a game for you all along?_

 _Didn't you feel it?_

 _Didn't you see how our hands fit?_

 _Please come home to me_

 _Every time you are not in my arms, I feel homesick_

I could make a tune and this will be a song. I raise my head and try to think of new words to add, but I am immediately surprised as I see the person I've been longing to talk to for years. I see the person who didn't ever try to reach out to me. I see the person I was mad at for forgetting. But damn all the times we were strangers. Right now, I just need her. I just need my best friend. I need Ana.

She's walking and her smile is too bright. It's always been. Her hair is longer and she's wearing a black coat. I run towards her and call out, "Ana?!"

She doesn't hear me at first.

"Ana?" I call out again and this time she turns around.

We mirror the same expression. It's like both of us have seen ghosts. We couldn't fathom the sight before us.

"Elliott?" She gasped, too shocked to see me here unannounced.

While I am breathless too. Not because of all the years of not talking but because of the small hand she's holding. It's the small hand of a little girl who looks about three years old. She's so small, so pure of innocence.

She looks like Ana but I've known them all my life to know that she's my niece.

She's Christian's.

Ana has some explaining to do.

 **Three years. It's been three years since I have visited Fanfiction. It actually took time for me to do this, but this is pre-written so despite my busy schedule, I will find time to upload every day. I am so sorry for the private messages that weren't answered.**

 **Thank you!**

 **Anyway, there goes the prologue. What do you think?**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

ANASTASIA

"Mommy, don't kill roach!" It's too late. I already did. I smashed it with my rubber slippers and the 'splat!' was too loud to be ignored by my daughter.

"Well, it's dead, hon," I tell her faking my regrets.

"B-but . . . but . . ." her lips quiver.

"But?"

"You're a killer, Mom," my four year old accuses.

I smile tenderly at her, "No, Georgia, Mommy's not a killer. Sometimes, we just need to kill cockroaches, okay?" How do I explain this to my daughter? I can't really say that sometimes we just have to kill things that are bad, right? All I have to say is that we need to kill cockroaches because they are dirty.

"Poor Roachy," tears are about to come out of her grey eyes so I hurriedly get the flower crown from the top of the wooden shelf.

"Look, Princess! I got your crown!" I place it on top of her head and the issue with the cockroach is long forgotten. She turns very happy as she feels like a princess with a flower crown I made for her. Roses and sunflowers blend together in a wheel shape, leaves adding a glorious accent. Of course, Georgia made it pretty, not the other way around.

While she spins like a ballerina, I sweep the cockroach away.

"Ready to go?" Or else she's going to be late for school.

"Yes, Mommy!" She grabs her purple backpack while I grab my black coat.

Hand in hand, we walk together as her school is only a few blocks away.

We talk about a lot of things. We talk about things a four year old regularly thinks of. She dreams of flying with Peter Pan in Neverland. She talks about having mice as pets just like Cinderella. I give her "oooh's" and "aaaah's" and exhausted my imagination too. My daughter is so beautiful and full of life. I wish it will stay this way forever.

"Mommy, why do my classmates have Daddies while I don't?"

I pause on my track, stopping the pain from throbbing in my chest. I don't care if people ask me about him. I don't care at all. But when it comes to Georgia, my heart is never bulletproof. My little girl just asked me the most heart-breaking question and I don't know what to say.

Kneeling down, we see each other vis-à-vis. Her grey eyes locked with my brown ones remind me of the time I fell so in love with him. That was the stupidest time of my life.

"Georgia, someday Mommy's going to tell you, okay? Just not now."

"Okay Mommy," she takes my answer despite obviously being unsatisfied.

I kiss her forehead before gathering the strength to walk her to school.

As I am about to open a topic that could distract her, somebody calls out my name and I feel chills down to my spine. It's like the whole world stopped for a second. I pray to God hoping that this isn't right. I pray that I am wrong. I pray that it isn't one of the people from my past. I want absolutely nothing do with them anymore.

I was shattered. I was bruised. I was used. But I got back up again and made life for me and my mother. I don't want to fall back down again.

But it's his brother, Elliott.

He looks violently shocked as he stares at my daughter's face. I know that he knows already. He's known his brother too long enough to see him in the face of another-in this case, a beautiful angel. Elliott's not breathing at all. The steady state of his chest makes me worried. It's like he's forgotten that he has lungs.

I clear my throat, "Uhm . . . Elliott?"

He transfers his gaze at me and this time, it's stabbing me with judgment. Well, screw him! I won't let him judge me. Even if he won't know the whole story, I will never ever let him think that I am the bad one here. I am not the girl he knew. I am not that bestfriend anymore. I am not that weak person at all. Never again.

The silence breaks off when Georgia hopefully asks, "Are you my Daddy?"

Elliott has a resemblance with him but I don't want to feed my daughter with lies. In fact, I don't want her to hope for her father anymore.

"No, he's not, hon. Let's just go to school, okay?"

I try to drag her with me but her eyes are transfixed on Elliott.

Knowing him, he's very impulsive. I've been his sidekick our whole high school life and I've known him long enough that the next thing he'll do is inform Christian that he has a daughter he never knew about.

"Meet me at Georgia's Flower Shop," I instructed.

He nodded, completely understanding that I have my own flower shop and that's the place where I'll explain everything to him.

But first, let me get my daughter to school.

 _ **=LOVE AND OTHER ALIBIS=**_

Work is a place I usually enjoy. People come to buy the flowers of their choice. I do the attractive arrangements and they would gladly compliment and buy them. The smell is celestial as it just takes you to a floral paradise. While customers come and greet me, Hannah, my employee entertains them. I am in no mood to of service today.

The walls are made out of transparent glass so I could see Elliott coming. Before he even gets the chance to enter, I go out and grab him by the wrist. I pull him to the back door and push him hard that his back hits the bricked wall.

"Ouch!" He exclaims.

"Don't you dare tell Christian about this!"

His eyes go wide, "Why wouldn't I tell him? Ana, he has a daughter! He has freaking daughter! Oh goodness, I have a niece! What the hell, Ana? Why didn't you tell him?!"

"Look, this is none of your business, okay?"

His voice rises this time, "NONE OF MY BUSINESS?! THAT GIRL IS MY NIECE!"

"I want nothing to do with any of you, okay? Nothing!"

This time, Elliott's temper tones down. He purses his lips and crosses his arms. He looks at me with incredulous eyes. He states, "This isn't you."

I snort, "Five years, Elliott. Five years passed. Do you expect that I will be the same Ana?"

He snorts too, "Five years. You didn't even speak to me. You ignored my text messages and phone calls. You acted like I was a stranger."

There's thing pang of guilt but I quickly ignore it.

"Elliott, things aren't the same anymore. I am not the same old weak gullible Ana that you knew. The moment I gave birth to Georgia, I became a whole new person. Apparently, motherhood does that to you."

He takes one step closer to me and asks with a voice full of concern, "What happened, Ana? Tell me what happened. How did this happen?"

"I had an affair with your brother," I tell him straightforwardly.

He looks frustrated, "Yes but how? What so you were a minor?"

I shake my head, "It was a short affair. We were seeing each other for three months. I was already eighteen when he was twenty eight. It was wrong but it was exciting. I was in legal age and I admit that it started out dishonestly. He was still in a relationship with Leila at that time, his girlfriend back in med school. It was intense. We hid it because I was young and he was in a relationship. He broke things off with her a week before you left. I was hopeful but yeah, I was stupid."

Elliott pushes further, "And then?"

"He ended things with me instead. He told me that I was a distraction for med school and that he wanted to just . . . concentrate. That he could never sacrifice his ambition for me."

"So he chose his boring career over you and your daughter?"

"Well, he never knew about Georgia. I found out I was pregnant three months later. I called him up and Leila was the one who answered. She said they got back together and that a child shouldn't be calling him."

Then, there it goes. The pain I've pretended to disregard for the past five years. The funny thing about this is that I've rebuilt myself for years but just one second of remembering causes everything to crash one more time. It still hurts. It still does.

"I'm so sorry," Elliott wraps his arms around me so protectively. I didn't even know that I was already crying. He holds me too tightly as I start bawling out. This is like five years ago. When somebody picks on me, Elliott fights them off and he would hug me afterwards.

"You are so strong, Ana, so strong."

"Promise you won't tell Christian?" I plead in between my cries.

"I promise," Elliott replies.

I'll count on that.

 **Thank you for reading this chapter. Elliott just made a promise. But, will he keep it? The next chapter will consist of Christian's point of view. Flashbacks of his relationship with Ana will be shown too.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

CHRISTIAN

" **Where are we going, Christian?" Ana asks me for about a millionth time.**

" **I am not telling you," I tell her.**

" **That's not fair at all!" She pouts but I didn't let that win over me.**

 **This moment with her is actually spontaneous. We've been seeing each other in secret for a month now and I can't handle it anymore. I need to be with her longer. I happen to drive by her walking home from school. I pause the engine for a while and roll the windows down to ask, "Are you willing to take a risk with me?"**

" **What do you mean by that?" She questions although I know she'll say yes.**

" **Just come with me," I invite and she accepts.**

 **Now she is a sight to behold as she sits on my passenger seat. The wind plays with her hair. It's like they're caught in a dramatic tango. She is all smiles as we pass by the flashing hues of the trees and the mountains. The sunrays make everything looks so much more beautiful as it intrudes my car. It illuminates the bright in her face.**

 **At the back of my mind, I know that this is wrong. At the back of my mind, I know that I have a girlfriend back in Med School. Maybe I should be studying by now instead of doing this with Ana. Maybe I should remember that I've known her since she was a fifteen year old girl. Maybe I should consider that she's very important to Elliott—his confidant and his best friend.**

 **Yes, it's wrong but how can you say no to something so beautiful?**

 **The car stereo plays one of my all-time favourite songs so I turn up the volume. I sing to it despite being out of tune. Ana laughs from time to time but I continue singing. I drive and sing while she listens and giggles from time to time. The wind gets stronger and the sun shines brighter at that moment.**

 **Ana states, "This is so crazy! Christian, I don't even know why I am here with you!"**

" **Risks, right?" I remind her.**

" **Yeah . . ." she smiles to herself while I continue singing.**

 **Ana gets used to the melody that she could successfully hum to it and utter some made up words. We perform a bad duet. It was so bad we end up laughing with our stomachs aching.**

" **Christian, what's the name of that song?" She asks as soon as it's over.**

" **Georgia on My Mind," I answer.**

 **She almost adds something but I announce that we've finally reached our destination. I park the car to the side of the road and we go out. We inhale the fresh air and Ana seems so confused. She looks so cute when the space between her brows forms those letter V's. She looks around and I get why she's really confused.**

" **There's nothing here, Christian. We're just in the middle of an empty road."**

 **This time I grab her hand and tell her, "Follow me."**

 **I am already twenty eight and she eighteen. I know what I'm doing. I know that it shouldn't go too far. I am controlling it not to go too far, but some moments can't just be stopped. I want to show this girl how wide the world is—that roads may be empty but they're really not if you only have the right pair of eyes.**

 **Five steps from our parked car there is a small entrance. It is a path so thin, a space between two dying trees. I lead Ana there and the path goes downwards. We feel our feet losing its balance and keeping it still despite the twist in gravity. Then, I finally show her what's hidden on the side of the roads.**

 **Ana looks astounded. And I'll never get tired of looking at her this way. We are standing on the bed of racks as the waves are coming. The waters are so blue and transparent.**

" **This is so . . ." Ana is lost for words.**

" **Beautiful," I finish her sentence.**

" **Yes," she agrees but she doesn't know that I'm staring at her while saying that word.**

" **Come here," I can't take it any longer. I position myself behind her and wrap my arms around her soft tiny frame. She is breathless for the first five seconds, shocked by my unexpected action. As I embrace her tighter, she settles comfortably. And while the waves are tame, the sun sets down and we watch that we have all the timing in the world.**

 **We pretend that she's not going to college in just a few short months.**

 **We pretend that I don't have Medical school to pass.**

 **I decided to be a doctor when I was sixteen. My little brother, Elliott was just six years old when I was this rebellious teenager who tried to run away from home. In an attempt to convince me to stay, Elliott escaped from our house with this ambition to find me. While crossing the street, he was hit by a car. I remember how Mom called me frantic about losing Elliott.**

 **I almost lost it too. If Elliott died because of me, I'd kill myself too.**

 **Then, he was alive all thanks to my mother and her fellow doctors. Gone was the agony of the thought of losing my younger brother—the brother I've waited ten years for. I realized doctors were life saver. Mom is a life saver.**

 **From that day on, I was rebellious teen no more.**

 **I devoted all my time to studying. In the hopes of adding MD to my name, I've moved great lengths just to get here. I sacrificed my social life and all the possibilities of dating. I graduated with a degree in biology and since then, med school has been my life and nothing else. When I was twenty six, a persistent med student named Leila convinced me to be in a relationship with her. We gave each other's needs and at first I thought I loved her.**

 **But over time the spark died down and I am only staying with her out of obligation.**

 **In this moment, with Ana though, I feel like I am free. I've hindered my wings to spread each time I crawl in my Science books. But now, I feel solid. I feel human. This is the freest I've ever been.**

" **Watch out!" Ana screams as a huge wave almost hits us.**

 **We push and pull just like the waves. Hand in hand, we help each other out as the waves chase us. We laugh so hard that we don't even notice that moon has taken the sun's place. We emerge victorious as the waves got nothing on us. We're not even wet.**

 **Then she looks at me and I can't help but smile.**

 **In this moment, I feel young.**

 **In this moment, I feel alive.**

 _RIIIING! RIIIING!_

I immediately wake up to the sound of my phone ringing. My vision's groggy at first and my mind is still in that dream or that memory rather.

The shift's pretty crazy today. As a paediatrician, you are very much in demand. Kids come and go like flood. You are just too tired you almost want to vomit. Still, you won't trade it for the world since being a doctor is not just a job. It is a calling.

I am Dr. Christian Grey and I am successful.

But no one ever told me that being successful doesn't mean you're complete.

I sigh. I miss her so much. I miss Ana. But I messed up. I really did.

Trying to stop think about her, I grab my phone and answer the call. I find it strange that Elliott's calling me especially during my shift.

"Hello Elliott?"

"Hey," this doesn't sound right. Something's up.

"What's wrong, Man?"

"I don't know how you're going to take this news but . . ."

"But?"

"But you should come home to Forrest Creek," he takes me by surprise.

"Why would I?"

"Because . . ."

"Because?" The thrill is killing me.

"You have a daughter with Ana."

My phone drops and so do my knees.

 **Thank you for the reviews you've given. I am sorry for the error with Ana's eyes. They are blue. Gonna edit it later. Sorry again. And by the way, Elliott didn't keep the secret. What do you think of this chapter?**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

ELLIOTT

I know I should feel guilty but I'm not. I promised Ana not to tell my brother but I just did not even a minute after we parted ways this morning. Ana is my best friend but Christian is my brother. He deserves to know that he has a daughter. He'll be arriving in Forrest Creek tomorrow.

There's this time bomb inside of me, counting down the hours before my friendship with Ana comes to an end. Then again, the time bomb already exploded when Kate cut off our engagement.

"Georgia, dinner first before ice cream," Ana really knows how to discipline her daughter well.

We're eating dinner in Ana's house and for some reason Georgia can't stop staring at me. I am a bit worried because I think she doesn't believe that I'm not her father. On the other hand, I'm glad she likes me. I've always wanted children with Kate but I don't think the feelings are mutual.

"But Mom please," the little girl protests. She clearly wants ice cream.

"No, honey. Finish this steak first and you can have your ice cream," Ana tells her calmly before standing up to answer the ringing phone. She mutters about a customer who just has trust issues. No matter how many times Ana assures that the flowers will be delivered on time, the customer insists that it won't. I pity my best friend but I'm glad she's in the living room talking over the landline, since that means I get to help little Georgia.

"What are you doing?" The little girl asks while I finish her steak for her. I eat as fast as I could.

"Shhh . . ." I tell her. I know I'm not being a role model here but the kid deserves her ice cream.

When her plate is clear, Ana comes back just in time.

"Wow! You finished the steak? Good job, Georgia!"

The little girl purses her lips, trying to stop the laughter.

"Let me get the ice cream for you," Ana declares and Georgia jumps on her seat excitedly. She gives me a meaningful glance while I give her a wink.

And goodness, I love this girl already.

 **===LOVE AND OTHER ALIBIS===**

"Well, she's finally asleep. Are you sure you want to stay here on the couch? I mean you have a nice home and you surely have cash for a motel room," Ana says as she sits right next to me on her couch.

"Is this you indirectly telling me that I'm unwelcomed?"

She shakes her head, "No, of course not!"

I laugh a little at that. I pinch her nose for a second and said, "Liar."

She shrugs, "Well, what do you expect? I am not used to this anymore. For four years, it's just Georgia, Dad, and me. Now he's gone for a fishing trip."

"How did it go when he found out that you were pregnant?"

"Horrible," she whispers underneath her breath. Then she spaces out. She stares at nothing as she recalls those times. She quickly shakes it off though when she asks me, "Why are you back here?"

"Because life screwed me over," I tell her.

"Life screws with all of us. The correct question is: how did it screw you?"

I tell her everything. I tell her all about my flop of a record album. I tell her all about the times I thought it was going to hit the huge marks on sales but it didn't. I tell her all about the times I've let my family down because I didn't want to be a lawyer or doctor. I tell her about the most painful things. I tell her about Kate.

"What happened with Kate?"

"Well, we've been dating and it just didn't work out."

"You know when things don't work out anymore; it means that one of parties just gave up. Who gave up on who?"

Why does Ana have to ask all the right questions? Why does she have to dig?

With tears forming in my eyes, I reveal, "She's a commitment-phobe. I thought I could change that. I met her during one of those torturous traffics in L.A. and we just hit it off. At first, she was firm that she's not into relationships but I stayed and showed her that she's worth it. We eventually had a serious relationship and then I asked her to marry me. One day, she just packed her bags and left. The engagement ring was placed on top of our bedside table. She wrote a letter. That's all I got! Everything we've been through and it all ends in a letter!"

My voice is trembling but it helps that my best friend's hand is soothing my back.

I continue, "She said that she just needed it to end because it was already killing her. She said she was sorry because she never wanted to settle down. She said she wasn't ready. She said she was sorry. She said it a million times but damn all her sorry's. I don't need them, I just need her!"

While Ana sooths my back, I let it all out. I cry like a pussy in front of her. I haven't cried like this since the day I woke up to find her side of the bed empty. I haven't let it all out. Now I was wailing like a child who lost his favourite toy. Maybe it hurt so much because she was never my toy.

"You know what I think, Elliott?"

"What?" I ask, voice husky hence all the sobs.

"She's a bitch," she answers making me laugh out of nowhere.

I expect her to say something philosophical but she just keeps it simple that way. I don't even know that it's possible to laugh and cry at the same time.

Ana reminds me, "Elliott Grey was the king in high school. He played for the basketball team but he secretly wanted to be a singer. Sounds familiar, huh? It's like High School Musical. But anyway, Elliott never cried for a girl. Although he cried to me because he didn't think he was good enough for his family. He cried because he thought he was unworthy. He cried because he was a musician trapped in a family who didn't appreciate the beauty of art. That's the Elliott Grey I know."

I am back to wishful thinking. Can't I just go back to high school when all problems were superficial? Because now? They're all so real. Inescapable even.

Ana rests her cheek against my shoulder when she says, "The Elliott Grey I know is strong."

"That means a lot coming from you," I tell her.

We stay silent wondering why no matter how we try to get it right, life finds ways to make it wrong.

 **===LOVE AND OTHER ALIBIS===**

The couch isn't much comfortable at all but it hurts me every time I wake up, I reach for her. This is stupid. I am reaching out for space.

"Good morning!" Georgia greets and she looks super cute with violet flowers on her head.

"Hey, good morning," I greet back.

"Thanks for the ice cream," she gives me a toothless grin.

I reach out to squeeze her cheek lazily.

"You want to meet my friend, Moana?"

"Sure!"

"Wait," she storms off upstairs and that leaves me confused. I sit down immediately wondering why she has a friend in her bedroom.

"Moana is a doll. I swear she won't stop watching Moana," Ana tells me as she appears from the kitchen. It's as if she reads my mind.

"What is Moana?"

She smiles, "You clearly don't have kids."

I stand up at the same time the doorbell rings.

"I'll go get it," Ana says.

I still feel very sleepy. I yawn and I notice that my breath smells. Maybe that's why she left me, huh? Maybe that's why she's not ready to commit. Elliott, this is stupid. You are acting stupid. Stop thinking about Kate!

I turn very awake when Ana slides the door open.

"Ana," it's a voice icy enough to create a cold war between me and Ana.

It's my brother and Ana is shocked.

 **There you go. Christian is back. What do you think?**

 **Thank you for reading!**


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